Half Of Mobile Data Users Would Drop Plans To Cut Expenses

Nearly half (48%) of Americans would drop their mobile data plans completely if they had to cut household expenditures, according to a new study by Strategy Analytics. At the same time, only 10% would drop their home broadband subscription.

Ben Piper, director of Strategy Analytics' multiplay market dynamics service, said in a statement that the technology research firm wasn't surprised that consumers placed a high value on home broadband. "What surprised us was the vulnerability of mobile services," he said.

Under the same expense-cutting scenario, 12% of Americans said they would drop their pay-tv service completely, while 41% would scale service back to a lower tier. Fifty-six percent would make no changes to their home fixed voice service, compared to 51% for mobile voice.

"These results suggest that while American consumers consider home broadband service to be a vital utility, they see mobile data service as simply a 'nice to have,'" noted David Mercer, vice president of Strategy Analytics' digital consumer practice.